Brought to you by Boats.com Europe, Yachtworld.com Europe, Scuttlebutt Europe is a digest of sailing news and opinions, regatta results, new boat and gear information and letters from sailors -- with a European emphasis. Contributions welcome, send to <!-- var prefix = 'ma' + 'il' + 'to'; var path = 'hr' + 'ef' + '='; var addy38595 = 'editor' + '@'; addy38595 = addy38595 + 'scuttlebutteurope' + '.' + 'com'; var addy_text38595 = 'editor' + '@' + 'scuttlebutteurope' + '.' + 'com'; document.write( '<a ' + path + '\'' + prefix + ':' + addy38595 + '\'>' ); document.write( addy_text38595 ); document.write( '<\/a>' ); //-->\n <!-- document.write( '<span style=\'display: none;\'>' ); //-->
"It's Done!"
Photo by Thierry Martinez, www.thmartinez.com. Click on image for photo gallery.
Portuguese sailor Francisco Lobato (ROFF TMN) illuminated the night with his Bahian flares a few seconds after greeting the jury's boat. The Series winner, happy and relieved, was celebrated by his friends gathered on the dock of the marina's yacht club. "It's done!" he exclaimed. And he honoured his predecessor, Charlie Dalin who arrived yesterday afternoon, too late to make up the 22 hour gap in their total elapsed time for the two legs.
"Charlie has done a very good race. I can finally relax." Impressive speed and consistency between The Charente-Maritime and Madeira, the young Portuguese made a more conservative crossing of the Atlantic to Brazil; "The important thing was to get here, regardless of the advance one minute or 20 hours I don't care, I am happy. I really thought about Sam Manuard who had dismasted just before the finish." No risks were taken in this leg of a thousand traps. "I left Funchal tired and not at all in my race, after a week of media madness" he explains. "The passage to the Canaries, with rotating winds in the west almost cost me a lot. I chose to be more conservative in the crossing of the doldrums. I was there 3 days two years ago. I lost miles on Charlie but I did not panic. I focused on my route without minding about the others. And now, my team and I, are rewarded of four years of work. I know that my partner is satisfied and I now I look forward to attack the next Figaro season. "
The racing time of Francisco betwwen Funchal and Bahia is 20 days, 17 hours, 8 minutes and fifteen seconds.
His overall time is 26 days, 19 hours, 39 minutes and 18 seconds at a speed of 6.65 knots on average.
Before any Jury adjustments, he is ahead of Charlie Dalin by nearly 11 hours.
Conti Repeats as Rolex Osprey Cup Champion
Photo by Renee Athey / SPYC. Click on image to enlarge.
St. Petersburg, Florida, USA: Italy's Giulia Conti won the 2009 Rolex Osprey Cup - one of only two ISAF Grade 1 women's match racing events in the U.S. - held at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club (St. Petersburg, Fla.), from October 21-24. Along with crew Lisa Lardani, Alessandra Angelini and Giovanna Micol, Conti (Toscolano Maderno, Italy) defeated Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.) in the 'first to win three' final match format. A total of 111 matches were run by Principal Race Officer Pat Seidenspinner on Tampa Bay for the four-person teams sailing in Sonar class keelboats.
Conti, the 2008/05 Rolex Osprey Cup champion and runner-up in 2007, came out of the double round robin winning 15 of her matches, second to an undefeated Tunnicliffe with 18 wins. In the semi-final round, Conti defeated world #7 ranked match racer and 2008 Olympian Anne-Claire Le Berre (Brest, FRA), 3-0; while Tunnicliffe and her crew Molly Vandemoer (Redwood City, Calif.), Liz Bower (Rochester, N.Y.) and Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.) defeated Karin Hagstrom, (SWE), world #19, and crew Nina Bake, Emilie Liden and Åsa Carlsson, 3-0.
Conti won the first finals match, then Tunnicliffe came back to win the second match. Conti went on to win the next two matches to clinch the title.
The petit-finals between Anne-Claire Le Berre and Karin Hagstrom resulted in a 3-0 score in Le Berre's favor.
Overall standings -- Skipper (hometown) with crew members:
1. Giulia Conti, ITA, Lisa Lardani, Alessandra Angelini, Giovanna Micol
2. Anna Tunnicliffe, USA, Molly Vandermoer, Liz Bower, Debbie Capozzi
3. Anne-Claire Le Berre, FRA, Alice Ponsar, Myrtille Ponge, Ophelie Theron
4. Karin Hagstrom, SWE, Nina Bake, Emilie Liden, Åsa Carlsson
5. Samantha Osborne, NZL, Jenna Hansen, Raynor Smeal, Genoa Griffin Fedyszyn
6. Katy Lovell, USA, Corrie Clement, Maegan Ruhlman, Emma Doss
7. JoAnn Fisher, USA, Debbie Probst, Linda Hiller, Nicole Breault
8. Jen Provan, CAN, Katie Abbott, Joanne Prokop, Susan Wallace/Laura Jeffers
9. Lisa Ross, CAN, Elizabeth Shaw, Katelyn Thompson, Chelsea Davidson
10. Rachael Silverstein, USA, Jee Lee, Molly Doyle, Kristen Herman
Regatta By Dubarry: Put Your Foot In It
Anywhere there's a club, there's rules, and never more so than in sailing clubs. No mobiles in the bar, no jackets on the first floor, no streaking - the list is endless. Fortunately there are some universal laws - port gives way to starboard, massive tankers always have right of way, Dubarry make the best deckshoes. For decades Dubarry have walked the perfect path between performance and panache. Now that path is softer, quicker drying, has better grip, is 15 percent lighter but still looks every stitch the classic deckshoe. Regatta by Dubarry, performance that passes muster every time.
LiveLoveGoSailing www.dubarry.com/marine.cfm
Solidaire Du Chocolat Nantes / Saint-Nazaire - Yucatan
Different courses for different horses. One week into the race and there are now 17 boats in the running of the Solidaire du Chocolat. The fleet is clearly split in two. West, at the entrance to the Azores, where the battle is on through the fronts and the transitional zones between two patches of truly rotten conditions. Those who are the furthest south in the western sector of the Atlantic are coming off pretty well. Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy (Initiatives-Novedia) are currently in the lead. Upwind in conditions comparable to transatlantic races on the northern courses, this team is increasing its lead against the big names who held the lead to start with, namely Bruno Jourdren and Bernard Stamm (Cheminees Poujoulat). South, on the other side of the race course, the trade wind hunters are diving down towards the Canary islands. David Consorte and Arnaud Aubry (Adriatech) are opening the route south, much longer, but with a little taste of paradise nevertheless.
"The southern option followed by five boats makes the distance to be covered 700 miles longer. On the last two transatlantic races, this route turned out to be the best one. For the past 24 hours, along the coast of Africa, the famous five have been running spinnaker high at 10-12 knots. Six days into the race there are still 2500 miles to be covered over to the gate in Saint Bart's and 4000 miles before arriving in Progreso. It's far from over.
First five at 13hours French time Sunday 25 October
1. Initiatives - Novediamm Tanguy De Lamotte / Adrien Hardym 3862 nm to finish
2. Mistral Loisirs - Pole Sante Elior, Thierry Bouchard / Oliver Krauss, 50.58 nm to leader
3. Cargill-MTTM, Damien Seguin / Armel Tripon, 50.82 mn
4. Cheminees Poujoulat, Bruno Jourdren / Bernard Stamm, 56.62 mn
5. Telecom Italia, Giovanni Soldini / Pietro D'Ali, 80.76 mn
Full rankings attached and maps on lasolidaireduchocolat.geovoile.com
Historic Race Record Tumbles
At 4.43pm on Friday 23 October, the supermaxi Alfa Romeo set HSBC Premier Coastal Classic history when she crossed the finish line to set a new race record of 6 hours, 43 minutes and 32 seconds.
Starting at Devonport Wharf in Auckland, and finishing at Russell Wharf in the romantic Bay of Island township, the boat wiped more than 36 minutes off the 13-year old record held by the pink multihull Split Enz, achieving an average speed of 17.9 knots on the course.
The 30m boat owned by New Zealander Neville Crichton, has already accumulated 142 line honours victories, and is visiting New Zealand for the HSBC Premier Coastal Classic.
Apart from a very early challenge put on by the 9m trimaran, Timberwolf, the supermaxi commanded a lead from very early on, taking advantage of the strong South West conditions to stretch her legs and power up the coast, reaching Flat Rock soon after 11am, about 15 minutes inside record time, and the Hen and Chicken Islands at around 1.30pm, 25 minutes inside record time. By the time they rounded Cape Brett the boat was an astonishing predicted 80 minutes ahead of the time she needed to set history.
Sailing a rhumb line course apart from a slight detour outside the Hen and Chicken Islands, she reached the last milestone, at approximately 3pm, passing inside the infamous 'Hole in the Rock', where she slowed down briefly, dropped from a Jib Top and Staysail down to a Jib, and tacked into the Bay doing speeds of around 12 knots.
Twice winner Taeping was the next boat to Russell, fighting off third placegetting X-Factor and pushing hard to have her own chance at beating the 1996 record, but finishing just seven minutes outside the time required to claim the multihull record. Multihulls took out the next twelve spots on line.
Ran Tan II was the second keelboat to Russell, finishing 14th overall, followed by the new Georgia IRC52, and Wired.
* Sail-World spoke to the Olympic 49er crew, Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, who paralleled the HSBC Coastal Classic fleet, in the 119nm dash to the Bay of Islands.
After taking 9.5 hours for the trip, the pair were a little sore, their legs ached, and they were strugging to be able to walk, but were otherwise fine.
The trio was eventful with two pitchpolings and four capsizes. However even so the 49er was able to lead all the 50fters to Cape Brett, at the entrance to the Bay of Islands, before turning left and sailing hard on the wind into the finish line off Russell. The finished just behind the top two 50fters, Wired and Georgia Racing. They were cheered across the finish line by the crew of Alfa Romeo, who three hours before had set a new race record.
Top speed for the 49er, which Burling and Tuke have beens sailing for just 12 months, was 20.8kts.
A forecast of 25kts easing during the race was sufficent to get the crew committed to starting with the fleet, a second 49er also started, but withdrew. -- Richard Gladwell, full article on these wonderful lunatics at www.sail-world.com
Seahorse December 2009
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
Looking ahead... his boys just cleaned up in the Audi MedCup and are now preparing for the first round of the new Louis Vuitton Series in Nice. Meanwhile his other boys are busy doing the groundwork for London 2012. Emirates Team New Zealand sailing director Rod Davis should be plenty busy enough... but you know the saying about getting a job done and asking a busy man?
Obvious move... another area where we have been waiting for the world to share our remarkable foresight (who is this person? - ed), is with our idea of taking advantage of the ready supply of relatively-affordable and usually immaculate pre-owned Farr 40s and converting them - properly - for IRC. Well in Australia they have got on with it (as they so often do) and the results are impressive...
PLUS: Terry Hutchinson diary, Mini Maxi analysis, GP42 and TP52 world championships, Southern Spars profile, Volvo Ocean Race communications, Bermuda Gold Cup and Voiles de St Tropez reports, interviews... and imagery!
If you haven't subscribed to Seahorse already we're keen to help you attend to that! - Please use the following promotional link and enjoy the hefty Scuttlebutt Europe discount... and it gets even better for 2 and 3 year subscriptions...
The Fleet Gathers
Photo by Pierrick Contin / IMCA. Click on image for photo gallery.
Annapolis, Maryland, USA: Competitors from across Europe and North America are gathering this evening for the opening ceremony at the Sheehy Lexus of Annapolis 2009 Melges 24 World Championship. The fifty-one boat fleet is made up of entries from the USA, Canada, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France, Britain, the Netherlands, Norway and Ukraine and over the last several days the competitors have been working their way through the Championship registration process as well as getting in some vital on the water practice time. The time for preparation is over now however, as racing in the six-day twelve-race series is scheduled to start Monday.
If the results of the Pre-Worlds Regatta give any indication of form, then it was to confirm the potency of the European contingent racing here this week. The reigning World and European Champions from Italy, 'UKA UKA Racing' steered by Lorenzo Bressani, cemented their position as the pundits' favourite, with victory ahead of Italian America's Cup helmsman Flavio Favini on the Swiss registered 'Blu Moon'. Third place was taken by another Italian helm, 2006 World Champion Nico Celon on 'Fantastica'. Outside of these three boats, the high quality Euro squad at this event also includes the double European Championship winning 'Joe Fly' crew steered by Italian 470 Olympian Gabrio Zandona as well as Britain's two-time Melges 24 World Ranking helm Jamie Lea on 'Team Barbarians'.
Matching the potential of the visitors are a raft of high profile US helms, each capable of putting together a World Championship winning series here in Annapolis: US sailing legend Terry Hutchinson on 'Quantum Racing' comes into this event as the current Melges 24 North American Champion, a title he won here last year; Brian Porter on 'Full Throttle' is the 2009 US National Champion and has 2002 World Champion Harry Melges calling the shots; Bill Hardesty and Vince Brun have four Melges 24 World Title victories between them and have teamed up aboard 'Event's Clothing/Atlantis' and Chris Larson the serial one-design champion and local favourite has three-time Finn Olympian Richard Clarke as tactician role aboard 'West Marine Rigging/New England Ropes'.
Transat Jacques Vabre
Renowned French offshore sailor Yves Parlier is set to join Pachi Rivero for the Transat Jaques Vabre on board 1876 (the IMOCA Open 60 Estrella Damm in the Barcelona World Race), one of the Barcelona Foundation for Ocean Sailing (FNOB) entries. Parlier is joining the project solely for this transoceanic race, the most important in this year's IMOCA calendar, with 14 monohull entries registered.
Parlier's presence on board 1876 for the Transat Jaques Vabre will also play a big role in the development and preparation of the boat and the team with a view to the Barcelona World Race 2010. With Pachi Rivero and Yves Parlier on board, the FNOB team entry boasts two experts in offshore racing technology.
* Mike Golding will compete in the upcoming Transat Jacques Vabre race with Javier Sanso (ESP). The 4730-mile race from Le Havre in France to Costa Rica starts on the 8th November. Golding, who has competed in every edition of the biennial Transatlantic Race since 1999, was originally going to sail with Bruno Dubois, his long-term friend, team sail advisor and Managing Director of North Sails, France, but Dubois has elected to stand down in favour of the Spanish skipper.
"Javier approached Mike a while ago to sail this Transat Jacques Vabre but as Mike and I have sailed together many times before, and I suppose in a way, I was the easy option! But after further conversations with Javier, Mike and I agreed that we ought to give him the chance. And a race like the TJV is perfect - not too long and not too short!," explained Dubois.
Javier will join Mike for the final preparation sailing in the UK and the qualification passage. Currently Mike's IMOCA Open 60 is in Ocean Village in Southampton and has undergone a comprehensive refit over the past eight months.
Golding and Sanso are sailing the event unsponsored, and the team has benefited from the considerable support of Mike´s long-term business partner, Jorgen Philip-Sorensen.
"We are obviously now looking for a new sponsor to take us through the next IMOCA cy cle, and as such both Philip-Sorensen and I felt it was important to take part in this race as it is a key one to look at both our own, and the competition's performance", commented Golding. "By supporting this entry we will be able to not only do that, but also raise awareness of our search for a new sponsor."
101st Gascoigne Cup To Soundtrack
The Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron's historic Gascoigne Cup sailed into its second century on Saturday, 24 October 2009 with victory going to prominent Squadron member and yachting administrator Tim Cox in his J35 Soundtrack, with son Edward on the helm,
Tim Cox, a retired senior RAN officer, is well known as the long-serving chairman of the Race Committee for the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. He is also a member of the Sailing Committee of the RSYS.
This was the 101st Gascoigne Cup conducted by the RSYS, although today's race marked 124 years since it was first presented to the RSYS in 1886, as it was not contested during the war years.
Many famous yachts have won this iconic short ocean race off Sydney Heads, including Norn, Caprice of Huon, Apollo and Margaret Rintoul II. The first winner in 1886 was Sir James Fairfax's Magic, one of the crack gaff-riggers sailing with the Squadron in the 1880s.
The winner of the Gascoigne Cup is the yacht in the combined Divisions 1 and 3 with the lowest corrected time under Performance Handicaps, with Soundtrack winning by a comfortable 2 minutes 39 seconds on corrected time from two other Division 3 boats, the Nymph 33 Zephyer (James Connell & Alex Brandron) from Balmain Sailing Club, and the RP36 Lisdillon (Desmond Fagan). Only 21 seconds separated second and third. -- Peter Campbell
Letters To The Editor - <!-- var prefix = 'ma' + 'il' + 'to'; var path = 'hr' + 'ef' + '='; var addy38595 = 'editor' + '@'; addy38595 = addy38595 + 'scuttlebutteurope' + '.' + 'com'; var addy_text38595 = 'editor' + '@' + 'scuttlebutteurope' + '.' + 'com'; document.write( '<a ' + path + '\'' + prefix + ':' + addy38595 + '\'>' ); document.write( addy_text38595 ); document.write( '<\/a>' ); //-->\n <!-- document.write( '<span style=\'display: none;\'>' ); //-->
Letters are limited to 350 words. No personal attacks are permitted. We do require your name but your email address will not be published without your permission.
* From Brian Thompson: I agree with David Pelly as to the origins of this swept-back spreader configuration. The Ron Holland One-Tonner "Golden Apple", built in Cork in 1974 for Hugh Coveney, had such a rig, with a fixed-length backstay and the rig tensioned using a hydraulic ram on the forestay.
* From Harold Cudmore: 'Golden Apple', owned by Hugh Coveney, designed by Ron Holland and built in Cork by George Bushe and his son Killian had a B&R angle spreader rig in 1974. It had riblets on the side as wind 'regurgitators'. We moved from this concept as we did not have the rigid sail material of today and were unable to control sail shape satisfactorily.
* From Cam Lewis: In 1975 at the One Ton Cup, a Ron Holland Designed "Silver Apple" had a B and R Rig. I raced against here there and later sailed her to the SORC from Newport RI with Butch Dalrymple-Smith and raced on her in the 1996 SORC. The boat was built at Palmer Johnson's out of Alloy.
She even had Vortex Generators on the sides of the mast- a metal tape with bumps pressed into it- kinda like the candy DOTS on paper tape we ate as kids.
There were other new innovations onboard as well.
Featured Brokerage
1973 Nautor Swan 55, EUR 280,000. Located in Genoa, Italy.
Sparkman & Stephens design, classic Swan 55, suited to racing and/or cruising. Much improved and updated in recent years.
Including: epoxy treatment 2006/7, half inch thick teak deck, new propeller, new anchor windlass, new inverter and batteries, some new electronics, and some interior refitting - all in 2006.
In 2009 the engine has been completely overhauled, new autopilot and new mainsail.
Italian flag and VAT paid status.
Brokerage through Nautor's Swan Spain & Portugal: www.yachtworld.com/swan-spain/
Complete listing details and seller contact information at uk.yachtworld.com
The Last Word
In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different. -- Coco Chanel
Use this box to send a copy of this issue of the Scuttlebutt Europe Newsletter to a friend:
[FORWARDFORM]
Or [FORWARD] for a page where you can send copies to up to a dozen friends.
About YachtWorld.com
Formed in 1995, YachtWorld.com is the premier online sales channel for yacht brokers around the world. The site lists more than 110,000 boats for sale in 115 countries by some 2,500 brokers in 60 countries. The total value of boats listed is over $40 billion. Headquartered in Seattle, YachtWorld.com has its European headquarters in the United Kingdom, with sales offices in Germany, Italy and Russia and sales representation in Dubai, Australia and China.
About Boats.com
Boats.com provides marketing and Web services to boat builders, dealers, brokers and service companies throughout the global recreational marine industry. The Boats.com Website provides consumer access to information, boat listings and financial and insurance products. With more than 143,000 new and used boat listings from more than 5,500 brokers, dealers and manufacturers, Boats.com is the largest concentration of recreational marine industry marketing in the world.
Yachtworld.com on line magazine is available free of charge and delivered digitally every month. Click here to receive your copy: www.yachtworldmagazine.com/ywm/latest/
NEW! See the Boats Blog at Boats.com -- www.boats.com/blog/
To subscribe, unsubscribe, and select HTML or Text format visit scuttlebutteurope.com
Editorial and letter submissions to <!-- var prefix = 'ma' + 'il' + 'to'; var path = 'hr' + 'ef' + '='; var addy38595 = 'editor' + '@'; addy38595 = addy38595 + 'scuttlebutteurope' + '.' + 'com'; var addy_text38595 = 'editor' + '@' + 'scuttlebutteurope' + '.' + 'com'; document.write( '<a ' + path + '\'' + prefix + ':' + addy38595 + '\'>' ); document.write( addy_text38595 ); document.write( '<\/a>' ); //-->\n <!-- document.write( '<span style=\'display: none;\'>' ); //-->
Advertising inquiries to Graeme Beeson: <!-- var prefix = 'ma' + 'il' + 'to'; var path = 'hr' + 'ef' + '='; var addy85573 = 'gb' + '@'; addy85573 = addy85573 + 'beesonstone' + '.' + 'com'; var addy_text85573 = 'gb' + '@' + 'beesonstone' + '.' + 'com'; document.write( '<a ' + path + '\'' + prefix + ':' + addy85573 + '\'>' ); document.write( addy_text85573 ); document.write( '<\/a>' ); //-->\n <!-- document.write( '<span style=\'display: none;\'>' ); //--> or see www.scuttlebutteurope.com/advertise.html